Bukhara under Ulugbek rulling
Ulughbek who was aware of the importance
of Bukhara clergy — it had earlier promoted
overthrow of his predecessor — now attempted
to win the favor of religious circles. The earliest
architectural monument Ulughbek built in Bukhara (1417-1418)
was a magnificent madrasah with some remarkably specific
features. This Khadis (saying of the Prophet Mukhammad)
was written on a carved wooden door: «Aspiration
to knowledge is to be the duty of every Muslim man
and woman.» This can be understood as the exhortation,
the motto, and the wish that Ulughbek left to his
young contemporaries and the coming generations of
his compatriots. Ulughbek stayed in this building
on 28 November 1419, probably because of inauguration
of this madrasa. In 1432-33, Ulughbek also built a
new madrasa at the tomb of Khodja Abdukhalik Qizhduvani,
who was a teacher of Bakha ad-Din Nakshbandi, the
originator of the most influential Sufi order. Complete
reconstruction of Kalyan, the congregational mosque
of Bukhara, carried out under Ulughbek, should be
examined from the same point of view.
Ulughbek visited Bukhara rather frequently and stayed
there for long periods. He especially liked to do
so in wintertime to combine state affairs with hunting
trips into Karakul. In the winter of 1421, his son
Abdar-Rakhman (died in 1432) was born here. A special
official reception for and negotiations with the Tibetan
diplomatic mission were arranged in Bukhara as well.
After Ulughbek died, the clergy of Bukhara enhanced
its influence in its political life interfering actively
in the decision about succession to the throne. Under
Ulughbek's son Abdullatif, the influence of dervishes
from the Nakshbandi order increased. After prince
Ab-dullah's partisans had usurped power, Bukhara put
forward its pretender to the Temurid throne, Abu Said,
and swore allegiance to him. Having risen to power
Abu Said called for Khodja Akhrar, a famous Sufi of
the Makshbandi order from Tashkent, who appeared to
be the most influential politician and ecclesiastical
personality in the Temurid state during the next forty
years.
After Ulughbek's death none of the Temurids took care
of the urban structures of Bukhara. In the late fifteenth
century the city was under the Temurid tarkhans, the
most respected officials, who had enormous riches
and possessed documents that granted them by local
feudal lords, the Kesh-Kushans. Apparently, these
castles (keshks) were widespread throughout Central
Asia in the Early Middle Ages; they had many rooms
and stood on platforms. Narshakhi reports that in
his time, there were about 700 keshks around Bukhara,
although many of them were abandoned by that period.
He reports an interesting detail concerning one such
castle; its entrance doors were beautifully adorned
with carvings that depicted idols. These doors subsequently
were moved to a mosque in Bukhara and the idols were
hewn out.
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